Category Archives: 1. Bicicleta

Straja and Parâng quality trail riding

Ok, so we haven’t posted for ages, that’s true, but we hope to make a recovery this fall.

Somehow, the plans didn’t go exactly as we wanted and we sacrificed the writing for riding and working :P, but we have a lots of stories to tell and a lot more going on. Mainly we wanted to make an article about each stage of Romanian Enduro Cup, that was just sick as so far. This weekend is Harghita Enduro, you can read more here, and then final stop, Metal Enduro Resita.

Ok, that’s it for now with apologies, let’s say something more meaningful. This weekend we went to a short trip to Valcan mountains (Straja resort on trailforks) and Parang mountains, 2 places that we have never ridden on.

Man, it was a good choice because we found out some serious trails here.

At Straja, we knew the terrain from last year, from Straja Enduro, but we have only been there as photographers. This year we got to ride the place. Still sorry we didn’t manage to reach the contest but next year for sure we will not miss it.

Straja has mainly 4 trails, 2 at the top of the mountains, a bit more alpine and you can reach them with a chairlift or by peddling out, and 2 long descents at the bottom where you have a gondola to help you out. The gondola and the chairlift do not always work so is good to check it out before you head there.

There is also shuttle service but it has a minimum number of riders that gets it started, at least 5 so check this out too.

The 2 main trails, the ones that run both sides of the gondola, Lupilor and Baloo by their names are just sick! you really feel that you are alive when you ride them. Your arms to :))))

For accommodation if you enjoy a basic mountain hut with cozy beds, shower, a great view and oh yeah, a great host, please check Allma Pension ;).

After a fuzzy evening with the fellas, next morning we headed out to Parâng mountains after a quick breakfast at a Medieval restaurant in the center of Petroșani (P.S. very good omelet there :D)

In Parâng we took the chairlift up. It’s an old chairlift with no support for bikes. It’s something improvised so please take care of your bikes. Check out the way they put them on the chairs and put some protections for the frame, just below the saddle because they will hang out by the saddle. We used our knee pads for this :).

From where the chairlift lets you off, we headed for Parângul Mare peak. It’s only pushbike from here, or, if your name is Ludo May, you might be able to ride it out… not us.

After 3 hours of pushbike, carrying or hiking it, we gave up and headed back. It was a bit late, so we decided to head back early. It was a bummer but the descent from Cârja peak was awesome. Steep, rough, loose technical, a real jam :D.

Form where the chairlifts let us, we rode fox trail, that takes you back to the base of the chairlift, you can find it on trailforks.

Man, that’s a very nice trail, with a lot of flow! it is a bit obscured in the middle or at the end but it’s ok, just ask the locals for directions.

Overall, it was a nice weekend, really funny with quality riding. Check the videos and photos bellow to convince yourself :D. Ride safe!

SHAPING THE SOUTH, MEHEDINȚI ENDURO

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This year is the first edition of Mehedinti enduro, courtesy of Alexandru Pufan aka The Pufalot who has worked his ass off for us to have an awesome contest on the 12^th of May here in Topolniței Valley, Mehedinți county.

Yep, this guy has shaped some awesome trails here and took the time to show us around. It is the second time coming here and we had the same feeling, being amazed of what this place has to offer.

The contest itself has around 27.5 km with and elevation of 1350m and 5 downhill stages varying between 1 and 2 km long. Here’s a description of them made by The Pufalot, on which we agree 👊.

The 5 specials from Enduro’s first Mehedinți edition are located on the Topolnița Valley, a diverse area geographically, making the trails quite different from each other.

The first trail, La Muerte Peluda, is the rockiest and the longest (and the most difficult to reach, with a transfer of nearly 7km), with several exposed and inadequate areas. Completely natural, this is in fact an old touristic trail brought back to life with the occasion of the contest.

On the other hand, the second special PS2, Imagination land, will be the shortest but most interesting. It will pass through the ruins of a fortress and will descend along a natural carousel, so that in the end it will pass through a rocky and open area.

The following two, PS3 and PS4 have the same starting point, being constructed from scratch over the past 3 years. Much easier from a technical point of view, they will probably please those who prefer more of a bike park type of trail with lots of berms and jumps.

PS3, Stevie Nicks will actually be a berm skill test for the riders, having a dozen of berms, while the next one, PS4, Blame Canada, will show us who is best in the air, building the biggest gap in the competition. And yes, this guy’s a South Park die hard fan 🤣🤟.

The last trail, Taming Strange, completed this month, is actually a combination of everything we’ve ever met. Technical areas alternate with flow paths, including very tight switchbacks, straight-forward portions, drops and gaps, on unforeseeable terrain 😳.

Hope these words made you an image of what to expect, and if not check up this edit that we made from our first day of riding here.

Second day we took a short trip to Herculane baths to check up some sick exposed trails that we will be uploading soon on youtube. Besides this we will upload all 5 contest trails in the next days so stay tuned on VRR youtube channel 🤙.

Also, you can find the complete map of the contest here: MEHEDINTI ENDURO ON TRAILFORKS! 🚵‍♂

Yes, it was a sick weekend and all we have to say is that we can hardly wait for the contest and to come back here to check out more trails. For sure in autumn we plan another trip here, there are so much more trails to be ridden.

This guy is actually shaping the south of this country! Cheers mate! 🍻

P.S.: Remember 12 mai 2019 – Valea Topolnitei. Photo credits: Alexandru Pufan.

You can also check out this article about Mehedinti county: MEHEDINTI FTW

LESPEZI PEAK SKI TOURING DAY

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This one has to be one of the best ski touring days of this season. Second time I have been on Lespezi Peak, both on skis. This beautiful 2.5k peak is also known as Corporate Everest because of its shape and relatively easy access even in winter conditions, making it pretty crowded…😅❄⛷

It’s a nice peak that offers a terrific view over Făgăraș mountains range. As you climb you can see the whole south valley of Transfăgărășan road with great peaks on each side and when you reach the top you can see Negoiou peak and Călțun lake with the great Călțun wall in all of its steepness…

As a descent route you can either go back the way you climbed, or get back 100m elevation and then enter the valley beneath the peak, or, if conditions are good, as we catch them, you can enter the valley almost directly from the peak on one of the ridges (almost spines) that forms underneath the peak.

Either way, check the conditions and get all information.

For us, was a great climb, a little windy, and a wonderful descent on a sunny afternoon.

For sure we will try it next year too. Cheers and ride safe! Enjoy!

CIOCANU MTB TRAILS FIRST RIDE 2019, CIOCANU ENDURO

First ride yesterday @ciocanumtbtrails, Bughea de jos, Campulung.

Looks like the season has started exactly where it ended 🍻🚵‍♂👊. Nice to be riding my bike again. Cheers mates and hope this year will be at least as good as the previous! Ride safe!

Best trail in Iezer mountains

Best trail in Iezer mountains, this is it! no doubt about it!

You have to work a bit to reach it but when you start your descent, the view, the trail itself, the flow makes it perfect. We did this trail twice this year, first in the rain and next in a sunny late October day and we had the same amount of fun in both conditions 🤩. So, no matter the weather, this trail will be perfect. Just remember on the 3-4 h uphill that the best descent awaits you and you will not feel tired. Check out the other ride in the rain here, video included 🤙.

We leave you some nice footage below. Last pictures are from Ciocanu MTB trails where we took a ride the next day. Enjoy! 🚵‍♂⛰👊

Hardtail love in Leaota Mountains

Last week we took an late autumn ride in Leaota mountains. I promise Cromo that I will show him the mountains and that I did. Lucky us we catch a superb day, cold but very beautiful with clear sky and and billion dollars sunset 😍.

This was my first time in Leaota mountains, and we ware both lucky. Wild mountains with rough technical trails. Loving it!

We leave you some pics and an edit, and you can find the track here. Enjoy! 🤙

Transilvania bike trails casual ride

This is how a casual ride on Transilvania bike trails (TBT) near Viscri and Crit looks like.

This year we visit 2 times this trails because they are just superb. Mellow trails with ups and downs in a beautiful forest near some old historical villages where you can find great accommodation and food. You could not ask for more believe me.

We strongly recommend you to stay at Agrotouristic Guesthouse Elena, in Crit village. Man, the food is fantastic and the hosts too. Friendly people with nothing to care but their guests. We eat so much and so good that we had to roll out of the beds to reach our bikes :))) Seriously!

And what goes well after a good meal? We tell you, a good single track thru the forest that ends up in an orchard of pears and nuts! Perfect combination! After this we stopped at the local pub (birt) to have a beer with the locals. Always an animated experience.

No more words just pictures now. Hope we given you a good idea on how to spend an weekend there. The tracks you could do are these: Track 1 , Track 2. Enjoy and ride safe! 🚵‍♂🍻👊

Iezer Mountains awesome over 1000m descent

This video is from a few months back when we did an awesome descent in Iezer-Papusa mountains, probably the coolest there is there. There are lots of trails but this one is the best here and its very long, over 10km and over 1000m of descent :D. For more info about this trail or other trails in Iezer-Papusa mountains, also check out this: Iezer-Papusa Enduro Singletrack or this Enduro bikepacking in Iezer-Papusa :D. Enjoy the video and ride safe! Link to track here!

VELIKO TARNOVO HALLOWEEN BIKERIDE PARTY

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So we took a last trip to Veliko Tarnovo to attend to the Halloween ride, curtsy of Old Mountain Epic. It was all Nedko’s idea and this I think is the third edition of the event.

The ride itself it’s a night ride on one of the tracks, which is a very fun thing to do, especially if you have some powerful lights to scare off the creatures of the night that Nedko summons up for the event 😂😂.

But for us was just a pretext to go ride Veliko Tarnovo’s trails and to see the crew from Veliko again, always a pleasure to go shred with these guys. I think next year we will plan some more trips to better discover Bulgaria. Not that we have ridden all the trails we could in Romania, but they are similar and we just want to ride more and more and more 😅.

The event was fun and as I said, the night ride it’s something that each of us must do at least once. I’m starting to like it more and more.

The trails were harder because of the leaves and the loose terrain but we had fun anyway, just check out the clip :D.

For more details about Veliko or Bulgaria rides you could check out Old Mountain Epic’s Page or some of our other articles: Veliko Tarnovo and Sopot Ride, Veliko Tarnovo Enduro Warriors trip.

We leave you some pictures and a movie bellow and don’t forget, Old Mountain Epic Halloween ride @ Veliko Tarnovo! Enjoy!

Cindrel mountains bikepacking trip

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This is an old one, but quite a beautiful one, one of the best bike packing adventure we had this year. Yeah, we could had some less rain, but who are we to complain?! we had an good night sleep in dry cloths… heck we even found slippers in the hut, and we had some good drink to ease our sorrow! This is how trail riding, hunting and enjoying looks like!

These are Cindrel mountains, some beautiful, mellow and sometimes unwelcoming mountains in Romania. For sure we will redo this one just as we planed it, hut included because its just superb right there in the middle of the forest! With some good luck, we will skip the raining days.

The plan was to do a bigger ride and explore the west part of the mountain. But, because of the rain that started sooner then expected, we had to cut short the first day and reach the hut earlier. We ware soaking wet when we reached it. The only luck in that day was the fireplace that we found in the hut where we could dry our clothes… aaaa and the slippers. We had a good night sleep and in the morning a beautiful day awaited… or better said half a day.

We did some serious pushbike back on to the ridge of the mountain and straight on to Cindrel peak. After this we hold the ridge to Frumoasa peak, and then take the rocky road to Canaia Refuge. The single track down to the refuge was beautiful! Just when we reached the refuge, the rain started again. And what a rain, it was poring like crazy. After a while we just didn’t care anymore and started riding in the rain. It was a cold rain, our hands and feet ware freezing. I think I almost prayed for the rain to stop :D. But it didn’t matter we didn’t had an inch of dry clothes on us anymore… the rain didn’t stop until we reached the car, but after a while we blend in. It was raining so much that all the mud was whipped. The stones ware grippy then before and I for one could ride with full thrust and ease. Until we reached our car, we had some good segments of beautiful single track. There was a portion of the trail that looked more like a pool then a trail. It was a flat surface of water on top of some gnarly rooks hidden underneath :))).

Beautiful, brilliant but we didn’t deserve so much rain. Hope next year we will have quite some contrast here, but we shell see.

We leave you some pics and and some movies to better understand our complains. Second movie is all about the rain :))). Beautiful memories, here’s the tracks: DAY 1, DAY 2. Cheers!

My hardcore hardtail is fantastic, NS BIKES Eccentric CROMO

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This year was new bike year. After riding a pump track on a hard tail of a friend of mine, in my head the idea of owning a hard tail was implemented. So this is how the conceiving of Cromo starts.

This bike is made half with second hand parts, half with new parts. After some time and lots of lets say planning, the bike took shape and its a beautiful one. And rides like no other… its just perfect.

I can say one thing, if there exists the one bike, the most beautiful one of them all, it must be a hard tail 😍.

In terms of parts ill just say the following:

NS bikes eccentric frame 2017 on 27.5 wheels second hand but in perfect condition;
DT swiss CSW AM wheels second hand with Magic Mary tires new;
BX components dropper post new;
Guide R brakes second hand;
Race face Turbine crank second hand but in perfect conditions;
GS shifter and rear derailleur second hand but in good condition;
Revers components saddle new;
Fox 34 140mm fork 2016 model new;
Truvativ descendant and steam new;

Even if I went a bit over the budget it is still a good deal and came up way to good for how it looks and handles :D. I’ll be using this bike to have fun in the city, for trail riding where I have more mellow terrain (like Viscri or even Ciocanu rides) and for longer bike packing trips where I know I have bigger climbs that I can do on the bike (if it’s pushbike I rather push my enduro bike). I’ll just leave you some pictures and a movie to see just how good it is :D. Enjoy! 🚵‍♂🤘👊

Straja Enduro

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This year was the first edition of Straja Enduro, the last stage of the Romanian National Enduro Cup, #CNE, just 1 week after Metal Enduro Resita!

Man, 2 contest in 2 consecutive weekends, mad schedule, must to become an habit!

Straja is beautiful, we know it from the winter. Awesome slopes and offpiste skiing here. And close to some awesome mountains just perfect for back country, skiing or biking.

But, the contest was something else. The landscapes ware just perfect, with the fall and the golden trees! It was a photographic orgasm as you can see from the pics bellow!

And the trails are awesome, one in particular, Wolfe’s trail catch our site. It’s an natural long trail full of natural futures, roots, rocks, single track, off camber and anything in between.

The contest has 6 special probes and its quite a long day! Enduro!

Thanks again to Bike Attack Resita for making this second and last contest possible and to all the people involved in developing the bike scene in this area! Keep it up guys!

We leave you bellow some edits and the pictures that we ware talking about!

Also check out Bike Attack, Metal Enduro and Valea Jiului MTB Trails!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=757JpTYJM-Y

MEHEDINTI FTW

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Mehedint FTW!

Some years back we’ve been to Isverna, an remote village in Mehedinti county. Going there was like a time travel. 2 years back we sow people still wearing “opinci” traditional shoes made from pig skin, and they ware not wearing them because of any touristic purposes.

This year we decided to go back but to explore more of the place.

Wee look up trail forks only to find out that our trail forks ambassador in Romania has his headquarters in Mehedint county. Good!

Our trip took 3 days and we ridden 3 different places.

First day we ride near Isverna, where we also stayed. We go to Beletina meadow and traverse Mehedinti mountains. We followed 3 trails that you can find on trail forks, Starway to Beletina, Beletina – Pigs neck and Springs Face, all tied up and all beautiful trails. We climb on fire road up to Beletina then you follow Pigs neck on animal trails and then descent back to Isverna on an wild raw trail!

We sleep well the first day, dreaming about the awesome track that we did.

Next day we meet up with Pufalot, the trail forks ambassador and did another awesome track in Cerna Valley. We visit the remote villages in Cerna Valley, and the awesome single tracks that unites them. On the descent we did 2 trails that you can find on trail forks, Prislop – Dobraia and Dobraia – Dumbrava. The whole second day track can be found here.

The descent was just awesome, long, over 10k and combines technical terrain with speed and flow. The ground is loose in this period and you must be careful of the offcamber corners :)).

We ware so tired after the second day that we did not dream about anything, just a long deep sleep…

Last day we made it short. We meet Pufalot on his home ground, Sindrilei hill, near Izvorul Barzii just to Blame Canada :)))).

Man, this guy is a crazy trail builder! 🤘 Cant wait for him to finish all the trails. Blame Canada trail its awesome. starting from the top it has 8 jumps one bigger then the other. The last 2 are a gap and a droop with an insane landing !

Next year he will have 3 trails and if the others will be as sick as Blame Canada, then we will spend double the time in Mehedinti county! Maybe a new enduro contest is in sight 😍.

Until next year we leave you some photos and an edit to better understand the beauty of Mehedint county, form our point of view ;).

Enjoy and ride safe! 🚵‍♂⛰🎥📷👊

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METAL ENDURO RESITA

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Metal Enduro 2018, in our opinion the best enduro contest in RO, and, this year, EWS qualifier!

Its fun, its hard, its long and the trails are just sick! 😍 I personally didn’t finish after a crash in the first day but things turned out ok because I had time to take pictures and film some segments in the second day, just enough to put this edit together.

For those who don’t know yet, Metal enduro its an enduro contest in our notional enduro cup, hold in Resita city, old industrial city with big old factories in steel industry and metal processing…. get it… metal enduro…🤘

The contest takes place over 2 days and 8 specials that run between 1.5km and 2.8 km and around 300m elevation and all single track.

If you haven’t ridden Metal enduro trails yet, you must! and in this period, the landscapes are just beautiful.

No more words, if you want to find out more please check the page of the event or our last article form last year when we put out some more words. Thanks to Bike Attack Resita for organizing this awesome contest! and Straja Enduro too so stay tuned! 😉

We leave you this edit to better get the felling of the contest and some pics 😉 Enjoy! 🚵‍♂⛰🎥📷🤙👊

Old Mountain Epic trip in Veliko Tarnovo and Sopot

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A few weekends back we took a trip to Bulgaria to meet again with the crew from Old Mountain Epic.

They have invited us to do a track in the Central Balkan Mountain Range near Sopot. Being a 5h drive to Sopot, we decided to make this a 2 days trip, and spent 1 day in Veliko Tarnovo and the next day we went to Sopot and checked that trail out, which we heard it would be massive in terms of view, terrain and intensity :D.

In Veliko, you cannot go wrong. You have the trails, the city, the people and each time we’ve been here we had a blast. The trails are in perfect condition and it’s the place to ride till the seasons ends because of the friendly weather. The town is nice and you have great food here. The crew from Turnduro (enduro bike community) and Old Mountain epic are top!

Ok, so we had a great Saturday on the trails doing Ani, Rodopa, 2 Offcambers and the DH trail. You would say next day we should have rested but not us :D. On Sunday we woke up at 6 am, went to Nedko and started from there in 2 cars. After 2.5 h were in Sopot, around 10 am waiting for our chairlift. We took the lift up to 1500m and from there we pushed the bikes until 1800m elevation. From there started our single track. I cannot say too much about the exact location, instead I’ll leave you a link bellow to the track we took, but I can say for sure it was the most demanding trail we’ve done so far. And also very rewarding. We had a beautiful single track, wonderful view and some huts along the way. The bottom part of the trail was just hard enduro but beautiful as in a fairy trail :D.

We leave you bellow some pictures, a movie and soon we will upload on youtube a longer edit with the Sopot Old Mountain Trail.

Until then enjoy and ride safe! Link to the track here: Sopot Old Mountain trail!

HARGHITA ENDURO 2018

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This year we took part of Harghita Enduro, the seccond stage of Romanian Enduro Cup.

Man what trails they have! tehnical, natural segments, steep, hard! Combine this with some english weather and you get an up grade weekend race :))).

The contest has only 3 specials but they are quite something. In my opinion this is how enduro looks like. I hope in the future another special will appear here but for now we can be glad we have this ones.

The contest is held in Harghita Madaras, mountain group of Transylvanian Carpathians belonging to the Eastern Carpathian Mountain Range. The highest peak is Harghita Madaras Peak, with 1,800 m (source wikipedia).

These mountains are beautiful and wild, if you wander alone on this trails, you have lots of chances to run into a bear or a wolf so be careful 🐶🐺🦄. Or into an awesome single track for that matter :))).

For accommodation you can chose Sugo Pension because is very clean and cozy and has great food! We enjoyed staying here a lot!

Also once here, you must take a hike or a bike up to Madarasi peak, the sacred mountain ;0, the peak it’self is one of the most beautiful ones in RO and the view is breathtaking because you are right in the middle of our Carpathians :D. Here’s an album to show you just how beautiful it is on the peak and trails 😉

But, mainly if you are into enduro, you must come ride here, even in contest weekend. Here you find the track of the 3 specials and bellow we leave you some pics and a movie to get you fired up! Enjoy! 🤘🚵‍♂⛰